The Fifth Child

Hannah Badger

Short Story, Fiction

Word Count: 2384

Approx. Reading Time: 9 minutes

Lysandros, a young man with dark black hair, deeper than the sea blue eyes, and an everlasting tan from his many adventures in the outdoors. Lysandros is the son of the wealthiest trader in all of Corinth, Darius, and his wife, Aileen, and he is known as the ‘Freer of peoples’. He earned his title by using his and his father’s wealth to purchase and then set free the slaves for auction in the port. Yet, Lysandros feels as though his actions have not done enough, he hasn’t helped enough or contributed very much to a better world, he wishes he could make a larger impact than he has, he craves for a greater purpose. And, as the gods love to meddle in the lives of humans, he’ll get one.

In a tavern down by one of the many ports in Corinth, Lysandros overhears some of the men from the other side of the Gulf of Corinth, from Amorani talking. One of the men speaks of how he heard of Heracles’ having freed Prometheus as one of his labors. Lysandros scowls at the men, he wishes people would talk of him freeing people and breaking them from their chains, but the world only talks of Heracles’ great rescue. Then, a second man talks of how Heracles should continue to perform great feats, like he should find a way to set free the Fifth Child of the Winds, Alessa, from her eternal duty, a duty no one should have to perform. Lysandros is intrigued by this, thinks that if it would be a challenge worthy of Heracles, perhaps if he completes it, people will talk of him with the same amount of excitement. So, he asks the man to elaborate on who this person is, where they are and why such a task would be challenging.

The man beams and begins the tragic story of the Five Children of Winds and the punishment of the Fifth Child. “Aeolus, God of the Winds, and Eos, Goddess of the Dawn, had Five Children, the first four were all sons and were called the Anemoi and each was given a section of the world in which they would control the winds. The North became Boreas’ domain, the East became Eurus’, the South went to Notus, and the West went to Zephyrus. The center where all the domains met were in the city of Amorani, this is where the four rivers divided the brothers’ domains met and there was a single small island in the center of the water that divided the siblings. As the brothers’ winds all moved towards the small island, they would converge and combine forming either an upside cone-like wind tunnel or storm of winds, both of which caused much destruction and death. Their parents saw this issue, but as none of the brothers could agree to limit their winds to prevent such damaging results, Aeolus and Eos has their Fifth Child, Alessa. Alessa was given no domain and upon her birth was placed on the small island, gods and goddesses who simply wanted the destruction to stop gave gifts to the giggling baby girl who would be cursed to live upon that small space her whole life. The gods came together and gave her gifts such as invincibility, strength, and swiftness. They then left the infant to her own devices on the island. The parents then taught her as she grew to prevent the winds from converging by any means, even if it meant taking in the full force of the winds when her brothers would all send winds at the same moment. So, since her birth, the young goddess Alessa, the Fifth Child of Aeolus and Eos, has been cursed to spend her life preventing such damaging storms, because of her older brothers’ unwillingness to cooperate with one another. Freeing her from the island would be a great feat, as none of the brother nor the other gods would wish her to leave her duties, neither would mankind, for if she leaves, the winds will run free and cause great destruction.”

Lysandros, upon hearing the story, was moved by it, and he decided that he would find a way to free Alessa from the chains she’d been given since infancy. He immediately heads towards his father’s home, there he told his mother and father that he would leave in the morning, with only what he could take himself, to free Alessa. His father, having only one son, protested the journey, claiming that the girl would be fine and knew no different, but should Lysandros not return, he would have no one to leave his fortune. Therefore, because Darius would not support Lysandros in heading for Amorani he would not provide him any money or supplies for his journey. His mother, Aileen on the other hand, was always proud of her son being caring towards others and his wishes to help as many people as he could, so she told him she would give him the coin he would need to purchase supplies and to use along his journey. That night, as Darius slept, Aileen went into his vault and filled many bags, as many as she could carry, then gave them to Lysandros who immediately set off to purchase a wagon and horses, along with all the food and other supplies he could. He stuffed his wagon full, hiding most of his remaining money below his other supplies and set off.

Upon arriving to Amorani he looked for Alessa’s island, but upon seeing, he realized the only way to reach it was cross the water, but Lysandros had a great fear of water and did not wish to swim across, so he had to purchase a local fisherman’s boat, as he moved across the water and towards the island, he struggled to steer the boat and keep it from flipping as the winds were so strong in this area he could hardly keep control of his oars. When he reached the island, he laid his boat of the beach and walked towards the center. There stood a girl, she looked to be near his age, and she was moving quickly as she pushed the winds back to where they came from or gently pushed them in a way that they still did not collide with one another, all the while her long silver hair was somehow keeping out of her eyes despite her quick motions and the high number of winds blowing around her. He called to her, and without stopping she held a conversation with him. He asked her if there was a way that he could set her free, she said she was not sure. She told him that his best chance of being able to set her free without her endangering the world, would be to convince each of her brother to limit their winds and send them only during certain parts of the day, so her duty of keeping them from combining and colliding would not be necessary. She told him that, of all her brother, the only one who had ever visited her was Boreas, the God of the North Wind, and she was sure that if he talked to Boreas first, her brother would be willing to limit his winds as well as help Lysandros convince the other three.

Lysandros then, with Alessa’s advice, set off in his boat down the river that would take him close to Boreas’ palace. He struggled again the keep his boat from throwing him into the water, he knew that if he fell into the cold water of the Northeast River, he would not be able to survive it’s chill and would die within hours. Several hours later, he reached the dock in which he would leave his boat as he continued towards the palace. Then, when he reached the palace, Boreas was outside of it, he was an elderly looking man with silver hair and a matching beard, with a conch shell in his hands, he appeared to have been waiting for him. Boreas began to speak as he neared, “I know why you have come, Lysandros, for I am the man from the tavern who told you of my sister’s curse. I cannot cross the rivers though, or my brothers’ and I will be at war, so I needed you, the ‘Freer of Peoples’ to help. I will gladly send my winds only part of the day if it means my dear sister is free. Take my Conch Shell with you, as proof that you have spoken to me, my brothers will agree to split the day if you have it with you.”

So, Lysandros took the Conch Shell from Boreas and went on his way to persuade the other brothers. First, he visited Eurus of the East Wind who had silver hair as well, but he seemed to be far younger than Boreas and had no beard but did have copper-colored wings. Eurus saw the Shell and was quick to agree, he said he would ask Hermes to help them settle who would have which part of the day once all the four had agreed.

Next, Lysandros visited Zephyrus of the West Wind, he had silver wings and had the silver hair only one of the Five Children of the Winds could have. Zephyrus, upon seeing his brother’s Conch Shell and hearing of how Boreas wanted to be able to let their sister be free, agreed, but he said upon her being freed he wanted to meet his little sister as Boreas had. Lysandros said he was sure Alessa would be happy to meet him.

Lastly, he headed towards the Southern Wind domain to speak to Notus. On his way, the winds happened to catch the boat just the wrong way, and both Lysandros and the Conch Shell fell into the water and began to sink. He froze with panic and began to drown, he would have drowned and died had the Aurai, the Nymphs of the Breeze sets his boat upright and then one dove into the water to pull him out and back to his boat. Lysandros was grateful for them but said he must retrieve the Conch Shell, the Aurai upon hearing that Boreas’ beloved Conch Shell had sunk, saw an opportunity. If they returned Boreas’ Conch Shell to him, as surely this man must have stolen it, he would have to give them a prize or gift for their good deed. So, they began to use their powers to bring breezes from several directions and send Lysandros boat towards some nearby rocks, they believed he would hit the rocks, his boat would break, and he would sink and drown, and they would have time to search for and retrieve the Conch Shell. His boat did head towards the rocks, hit them, and fall to pieces, leaving him to sink downwards into the water, but then, Lysandros gathered his courage and began to swim, he swam as though he had never feared water in his life, he dove down to where he remembered the Conch Shell having been, picked it up, and then when he reached the surface, he fought off the Aurai who scratched at him and used their breezes to move the river’s current in other directions to hinder him, yet, he swam on until he reached the shore. Quickly, Lysandros ran towards the Southern Wind God’s palace and ran in soaking wet, and skidded to a halt in the grand hall, where Notus, with his silver hair and handlebar moustache and goatee, sat upon his bronze throne. Notus was about to attack the young man, when he caught a glimpse of something, his brother Boreas’ Conch Shell. He allowed Lysandros to speak, and upon hearing all his brothers had agreed, he agreed as well. He then offered to send Lysandros back to Boreas to return the Conch Shell, to which Lysandros agreed.

So, Notus sent Lysandros back to Boreas, where he returned the shell, and then Boreas, overjoyed at the success of Lysandros and himself, traveled with Lysandros to tell Alessa the great news. Alessa too, was overjoyed, and for the first time since she could walk, she stopped moving, and then a great tornado arose and destroyed several houses. Alessa, became distraught and began working once again with renewed purpose. Boreas told her they would find how to split the day by the morning, and she would be free to not continue her duties after that, then he left to return to his palace. Lysandros then asked Alessa, once she was free in the morning, would she be his wife. Alessa was excited and accepted to be such. The next morning, the brothers had come to an agreement, the problem was though, their times would overlap slightly, which meant they would run the risk of causing tornadoes and windstorms during those times. When Hermes told Alessa and Lysandros this, they accepted that, to keep the world safe from such disasters, Alessa would have stay nearby during those times, so Lysandros and her decided not to marry as Lysandros knew his father would demand he return home.

The two split, Lysandros headed home where he was celebrated for his partial success, he then continued to free as many people as possible, and eventually married and had children, until his death, upon which his children took it upon themselves to not only maintain the family’s trading and building their wealth, but also to work towards stopping slavery.

Alessa remained on her small island, but as she now understood that others were free to do as they wished all the time, she became depressed and slept most of her days. As she slept more and more, she began to not always wake up before the brother sent their winds at the same moment. So, when she would sleep past the overlapping times, the brothers’ winds would still combine and collide and cause destruction until she woke from the screams for help and would then rise to stop the tornado or windstorm. Alessa has yet to cheer up and the brothers have yet to find another solution, so as Alessa continues to sometimes sleep through the collisions, tornadoes and windstorms continue to happen on occasion.

Published: 20:00 ET, Friday, 7th October, 2022